


No One's Here To Sleep

by joidianne4eva



Category: How to Get Away with Murder
Genre: Episode: s01e04 Let's Get to Scooping, F/M, M/M, Past Infidelity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-18
Updated: 2014-10-20
Packaged: 2018-02-21 15:29:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,831
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2473241
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/joidianne4eva/pseuds/joidianne4eva
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>People say it gets better and sometimes it does but no one ever tells you about the spaces in between or the people that help you pick up the pieces along the way. </p>
<p>Oliver was pretty certain he'd have to pick up those pieces all by himself until he met Annalise and suddenly his broken pieces weren't the only ones scattered on the ground.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> I just really wanted to write this the second I saw the last episode. 
> 
> Unbeta'd and done in an hour. 
> 
> There will be more chapters.

Oliver took another glance around the bar before turning back to his drink. This wasn’t his usual type of place but going back to the bar where he’d met Connor wasn’t an option…thinking about Connor wasn’t an option.

Slamming back his drink he signalled for the bartender to bring him another.

He should’ve known, it had all happened too fast. One minute he’d been sure that Connor had only wanted the emails then he’d been bringing Oliver dinner and sleeping over but hindsight was twenty-twenty and Oliver hadn’t expected the punch to the gut he’d gotten when he’d picked up Connor’s phone.

“Work trouble or boyfriend trouble?”

The voice made Oliver blink in confusion before he focused on the woman who was speaking.

The first impression he had was ‘professional’ the next one was ‘badass’ and Oliver wasn’t sure if it was because of the way she held herself, her clothes or the narrowed eyed knowing look she was giving him.

“That obvious?” he responded and she shrugged, pausing to take a sip of her own drink.

“I get paid to read people,” she admitted, tapping her nails against the counter. “Also I know that look personally. I’ve had the displeasure of seeing it in the mirror a lot lately.”

Oliver shot her a sad smile, “Men suck.”

“And it’s very difficult to find an appropriate sex toy to fill their space with,” she shot back and Oliver couldn’t help the snort of laughter that escaped him.

“It’s either the right size and doesn’t vibrate or vibrates and still makes you want to give up on sex for life,” he retorted, once he got himself under control.

The woman’s lips twitched and while it wasn’t quite a laugh Oliver had a feeling that it was an accomplishment.

Turning in his seat so that he was facing her, Oliver held out his hand. “Oliver and thanks for making me laugh, I really needed that.”

The woman took his hand with a smile of her own. “Annalise and I should thank you for the company,” she replied.

“If you don’t have anywhere to be I wouldn’t mind keeping your company a bit longer,” Oliver told her, trying desperately to keep his own need out of his voice. He really didn’t want to go home to his apartment because it was filled with memories that he wasn’t ready to deal with.

Annalise shot him that smile again, the one that said that she could see right through him and Oliver had to clench his fingers into a fist to keep from messing with his glasses like he did whenever he was nervous.

“I think I’d like that,” she responded finally and when she flagged down the bartender and told him to leave the bottle, Oliver didn’t even try to keep the smile off his face.

*O*

“Then he said ‘I like you actually’!” Oliver exclaimed from where he was slumped against the bar. “What crap is that? I like you actually! My two year old niece shows more affection and she can’t even talk properly!”

“Bastard,” Annalise hissed as she topped up her glass and Oliver blinked because he was pretty sure that her glass had been full a second ago.

“I kicked him out after that,” Oliver whispered, remembering the way that Connor had looked at him when he’d told him to leave. For a moment he’d almost caved and then he’d heard the recording in his head. It had been game over after that.

“At least you could, I’ve got to live with my idiot, that’s the bit about getting married that they don’t tell you. You end up stuck with your mistake,” Annalise grumbled.

“I should just fuck someone else and get him out of my system,” Oliver suggested.

“Doesn’t help,” Annalise whispered and Oliver glanced up just in time to watch see something on her face that told him that she knew what she was talking about. “You just end up hurting yourself in the process. At this point, all you’ve got is your dignity; don’t let him make you lose that.”

“I think I loved him,” Oliver confessed and for a second Annalise just stared at him with a sad smile.

“My mother once told me to never keep loving a man who hurt me,” she told him.

“Did you listen?” Oliver asked and Annalise nodded. “Did it help?”

“Not one bit, by the time they hurt you, you’re usually already in love,” she sighed as she straightened. “Get up kid, we’re leaving before one of us starts crying. I doubt they’re paying the bartender enough to deal with that.”

Oliver was already scrambling off his chair though it took him two attempts to succeed and okay, he was probably a bit drunker than he'd realized. “Where are we going?”

“First, to find a hotel with two rooms free because as much as I like listening to you I deserve a night in a bed I don’t want to set on fire and you do too. Then in the morning we’re going to clean ourselves up and go back out there with our heads held high,” she told him as she left a couple bills on the counter and lead him outside.

“Do you mean forever? Because I know we just met and everything but I’d really like to do this again, if you want to I mean…if you don’t want to that’s fine as well and I should really stop talking…” Oliver babbled.

Annalise just smiled at him. “Not forever because it would be cruel of me to just leave you on your own and while I’m capable of cruelty I reserve it for times when I’m getting paid.”

Oliver just stared at her until she rolled her eyes.

“By that I meant, yes, Oliver, I would love to meet up with you again.”

“Oh,” Oliver grinned and Annalise shook her head.

“How you’ve survived this long, I’ll never know,” she muttered as she flagged down a cab.

Oliver just beamed at her, “My mom says its part blind luck and part constructive stupidity,” he admitted and Annalise snorted.

“Your mother sounds like a wise woman.”


	2. A Message (From Cabana)

Annalise glared at the papers in front of her. She’d just read the same witness account three times but it still wasn’t making any sense. The man’s descriptions of what happened were sloppy at best and complete stupidity at worst. He was either lying or an absolute idiot which didn’t help her client in any way.

She’d managed to avoid Sam at least, only stopping in to shower and get dressed.

She wondered if he even realized that she hadn’t come home…she also wondered why she cared.

The buzz of a phone had her head snapping up; a scathing remark on her tongue until she realized that it had been her phone.

Glancing around the room she waited until her students’ attention returned to their documents before she unlocked the screen.

_Send help, I’m dying_

Annalise snorted as she tapped out a quick reply.

**You’re hung-over**

The response was almost instantaneous.

_Same difference, I’m calling in sick._

Annalise cocked her brow at that.

**I thought you said you’ve never taken a day off.**

_It’s either that or kill someone_

Annalise smirked ignoring the way that Michaela was staring at her.

**If you do decide homicide is the way forward I could recommend a good lawyer.**

_You’re not half as funny as you think you are_

**You’re right I’m too humble to acknowledge my comedic brilliance.**

_You suck, I’m going back to bed. If I don’t text back I’m dead._

**I’ll remember to shed a few drops of vodka at your funeral.**

The only response she got to that one was a blank smiley face.

Putting her phone down she refocused on the document in front of her, her lips quirking as she realized something. She’d initially assumed the witness was hiding something or lying but now she was starting to think that the man’s account sounded like he’d been more than a little drunk and if she could prove it then the star witness’ credibility was about to go down the drain.

Grinning to herself she made a mental note to tell Oliver thanks.

*O*

Annalise inhaled slowly as she tried to resist the urge to rub her temples because that was a tell and she didn’t do tells not even when she was surrounded by her students.

“You’re telling me that no one in this room has access to anyone with the ability to hack a phone?”

Four embarrassed faces were her only response. When her eyes settled on Connor, she paused, because the man looked like he was about to lose his lunch. A part of her was curious, but the much larger section of her brain was too busy running through her list of acquaintances to really focus on whatever was wrong with the Connor.

Pulling out her phone she quickly brought up Oliver’s number. It wasn’t a certainty but Oliver _had_ mentioned something about an I.T. department in his rambling and if she was wrong then she hadn’t lost anything in her pursuit.

“’lo?” The voice that greeted her was groggy and husky in a way that made Annalise reconsider allowing Oliver access to alcohol in the future. The thought made her pause because Oliver was a grown man and she wasn’t exactly maternal.

“I need a favour,” she responded in lieu of a greeting.

“Nice to hear from you too, Annalise, ‘s not like I’m dying or anything. I mean my boss definitely hasn’t ordered me to stay home for a week because he thinks I’ve got the plague and he doesn’t want to piss me off because apparently I threatened to crash the server the last time I wasn’t feeling well. And my coffee machine’s definitely still working and I’ve definitely not been asleep on the floor since I sent you that text.”

Annalise’s lips quirked. “So you’re fine then?”

There was a telling silence on the other end of the call before a whispered. ‘I hate you’, that just made her smile widen.

“Would you happen to know anyone who could hack a phone?”

Oliver sniffed and Annalise could picture the disgruntled wrinkle of his nose. “I can do that, if you bring me coffee.”

“Text me your address and we’ll work something out,” she responded, listening for Oliver’s response before ending the call.

A moment later her phone buzzed and Annalise pursed her lips as she stared at the group. “It seems I’ve found a solution to our problem but let this be a lesson to you. Sometimes you will need favours. Build your networks and keep a couple of useful people in your pocket, am I understood?”

The five of them nodded and Annalise gestured for them to go, her eyes lingering on the pained grimace still marring Connor’s face as he fled the room ahead of his classmates.

 

**Author's Note:**

> Come hit me up on tumblr [i-was-put-together-wrong](https://www.tumblr.com/blog/i-was-put-together-wrong/)


End file.
